Speaking of "gay," etc.

[Benjamin J Barrett]

Dookie as in poop? I remember that meaning in the suburbs of Seattle in
the 70s, or maybe it was Anchorage...

Benjamin Barrett
Baking the World a Better Place (with the famous dog Pasco)
www.hiroki.us

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Wilson Gray

DARE has the word "doofunny," etc. with the same meaning as "doohickey,"
etc. In BE, however, "do-funny," as I've always imagined the "correct"
spelling to be, means "gay male" and nothing else. "Funny" alone can
also mean "gay," or, as part of the phrase, "funny that way," its only
meaning is "gay." I didn't find it in HDAS.

On the other hand, HDAS does have "dookie" and DARE doesn't. Until very
recently, when I heard it used by adults on the Jerry Springer show, I
thought that dookie was a children's "bad word" used only in East Texas.
Needless to say, I was surprised to see it in HDAS. Either the word has
spread far and wide since the '40's or my never having heard the word
used outside of East Texas until a couple of years ago was a complete
accident.